Clothes-pounder



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ANDREW C. MCKINNEY, OF CHATHAM RUN, PENNSYLVANIA.

CLOTHES-POUNDER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 491,685, dated February 14, 1893.

Application filed April '7,1892. Serial No. 428,180. (No model.)

To asZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ANDREW O. MCKINNEY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chatham Run, in the county of Clinton and State of Pennsylvania, have ihvented a new and useful Pounder \Nashi'g-lilachine, of which the following is a specification.

This inVention relates to certain new and useful improvements in washing machines, especially that class known as pounders, and consists in the construction and arrangement of the parts thereof as will be more fully hereinafter described and claimed The Object of this invention is to provide a device of simple and effective construction and operation adapted to be applied to the feet and used after the nanner of a pair of stilts to thereby thoroughly cleanse the garnents without injury to the same.

In the drawings-Figure 1 is a perspective view of one of the devices. Fig. 2 is a transverse Vertical section of the device, on the line 00-95, Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a bottom plan view of the same. Fig. 4 is a side elevation of the device. Fig. 5 is a horizontal section on the line y-y, Fig. 2.

Similar numerals of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several Views.

Referring to the drawings, the numeral 1 designates the head of the device, which has a handle 2 connected adjacent to one end thereof, the said handle being sufficiently long to permit the same to be grasped by the hand and formed with a crook or head 3 at the upper end thereof. The said head l is preferably of cylindrical form and has acentral Opening 4 extending vertically from the bottom upward thereinto,which is surrounded by a series of smalleropenings 5, arranged at angles of inclination and communicating with the upper part of the central Opening 4. From the top of the said central Opening 4, a transverse Opening 6 extends in a horizontal plane and has its outer end closed by a yielding Valve, by means of which the air can be readily forced out of the head 1 but is not permitted to be drawn thereinto through said Valve.

This device will be constructed of suitable material, and when in use two of the same are employed by stepping on them with the feet and taking the handles within the hands, and tramping around in the tub on the clothes to thereby eradicate the dirt. The air which rises in the central Opening 4 and the openings 5 which surround the same, is forced out through the valve covering the Opening (3, the said valve 7 being of suitable clastic material in order to yield and assume its normal position. The air which may be forced up in the openings 5 is directed to the central Opening 4 and fiows out of the same through Opening G and valve 7. By the means of this device, the water is pressed through and out of the clothes when the feet are pressed down on the device, and when the foot is raised the water is drawn into and under the clothes by means of the suction produced by the operation of the valve.

The device being of simple construction, it can be nanufactured and sold at a comparatively small cost, and is especially useful in washing heavy goods, such as bed-clothes.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new 15- In a device of the character set forth, the combination of a cylindrical body having a vertically disposed eentral Opening with a transverse Opening extending from the upper termination thereof to the outer side of the body and covered by an exterior automatically acting Valve, said body also having a series of openings surrounding said central Opening and converging toward and communicating With the latter below the upper termination thereof, the said body having an upper extended fiat sui-face adapted to be engaged by the foot of the operator, and a handle eccentrically projecting upward from the said top of the body and having a crook atits upper end adapted to be gripped by the hand of the operator, substantially as described.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto affixed my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

ANDREVV C. MCKINNEY.

Witn esses:

L. MUssINER, Ao C. KIssELL, 

